


Mystery Boyfriend

by kowaidesuka



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: ... kinda, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Oblivious Ike, Valentine's Day, somewhat oblivious Soren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 21:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17691797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kowaidesuka/pseuds/kowaidesuka
Summary: Ike has been Soren's best friend for over a decade. So why is he the last one to know about his new boyfriend? And why does he feel… bitter about it?Moreover, why does everyone act strange when he asks about the elusive boyfriend?





	Mystery Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I've always liked this “couple is dating but one person doesn't know they are” trope. If you can even call it a trope, because I've only seen like 4 of them. If anyone reads this finds more like it, please let me know, it's super entertaining to read.
> 
> Inspired by the latest FEH banner. Thanks for the food, IntSys. I saw all the positive Ikesoren art and general vibes on Twitter and thought it'd be nice to write a fic for them, I hope you enjoy :’))

The past week had been a whirlwind of parties, drinking, and regret, as Ike found himself at the tail-end of Winter Break with the threat of four midterms looming in the near future. Heeding Soren's advice, he decided to head to the library located in the lower campus, which allegedly was always empty due to the trek students had to take from the main buildings on campus grounds.

And of course, Soren was right yet again. Ike could only spot a handful of people amongst the bookshelves, about a dozen more napping on the computer desks, and, to his surprise and delight, two familiar faces: Mia, a girl in his economics lecture and fencing club, and Ilyana, a girl on his dorm floor whom he highly suspected took one of his ham sandwiches. Sure, anything unlabelled was fair game, and the girl always looked like she would keel over at any moment; but being sandwich-less was a state of being Ike would prefer not to encounter ever again. Still, he thought it'd be nice to pop over and say hello before slogging off to cram for his crazy schedule of tests.

As he approached the two girls, he noticed that they were deep in conversation. Ike wasn't one for eavesdropping, but it was hard not to, with Mia's animated voice drawing him in.

“Man, why does the semester have to start again so soon?” complained Mia, absentmindedly running her finger along the books of the shelves. “Intro to Chem is totally gonna give me a butt kicking!”

“I heard some of the chemistry club was offering to host a study session a few days before the midterm,” came the quiet voice of Ilyana. 

“Whoa, seriously? You think Soren's going to help out?” Ike perked up at the mention of his best friend. “He was so helpful to me the last time we had a quiz. In between all the sighs and the glaring, that is,” Mia laughed.

“I'm not sure, actually. I heard Micaiah tried asking him, but he said he was busy.”

“Oh yeah, I guess he would be now that he finally got himself a boyfriend,” she replied with a grin.

_Wait… what?_

Ike was utterly shocked. When did this happen? How did this happen? He could count on one hand the people Soren could tolerate, let alone like enough to date.

_And why didn't he tell me?_

Ike suddenly waved at them, catching the eye of Ilyana who nudged her companion. The girls waved back and approached him, and he swore he heard Mia mutter, “Well, might as well just ask him.”

“Hey Ike, how's it hanging?” the fencer chirped. “Oh, by the way, are we still on for Thursday? I've been dying to spar someone, I think over the break I've gone rusty.”

He chuckled in response. “If you're up for it, yeah. I'm sure I’ll be sick of studying later this week anyway.”

She pouted. “Tell me about it. I've only been studying for an hour and already I want a break.” She straightened a little. “Oh, I wanted to ask you something! Do you know if Soren is busy next Friday? There's a chemistry study session that night and he's usually such a great help with that kind of stuff.”

Thinking for a few moments, Ike replied, “Yeah, actually. We're hanging out that night, he wanted to help me out with history too.” Weirdly enough, he felt somewhat relieved that Soren was busy with him and not the mystery boyfriend.

“Oh damn. Guess I'll find another time to go bother him.” With a shrug of her shoulders, Mia flounced off, but not before calling out to him, “Oh, by the way, congratulations!” Ilyana also trailed off behind her, offering her own faint “Congrats.”

\---

That last interaction was a whole other thing that confused Ike, and temporarily pushed the Soren's boyfriend business to the back of his mind. Ever since the big winter blowout party hosted by Skrimir, which Ike did not remember a lick of, friends and acquaintances alike greeted him with a “Congratulations!”. And for what exactly? For not puking? For winning an eating contest, perhaps? He suppose it'd count as a victory to win an eating contest against the likes of Skrimir and his friends, as well as Ilyana.

Ike thought it'd be helpful to ask the host of the party himself, during his weekly burger hangout with Ranulf and Skrimir. He suspected he'd never hear the end of it from his friends if he outright confessed he was blackout drunk the whole time; for the sake of his snooping, he decided to keep his questioning casual and lowkey.

“So, that party,” Ike said, in between chomping down his side of fries. “Pretty wild, huh?” Inwardly, he winced at himself for leading with that.

Skrimir and Ranulf looked at each other, then at Ike, and simultaneously exclaimed, “Hell yeah!”

“Seriously, even Professor Stefan showed up at one point, and not to shut it down. Like an actual professor!” Ranulf raised the burger to his lips once more.

“The party only got started once the brawls started,” Skrimir exclaimed, after downing his soda in one big gulp. “One of the best times of my night was winning fifteen arm-wrestling contests in a row!”

Ike contemplated this while chewing his burger. Perhaps he did well enough at arm wrestling to warrant some praise? His arm didn't feel sore at all after the party though. Before he could question the rowdy youth, Ranulf chimed in with a wry “One of the best, eh? Because we all know what the real highlight of the party was.” He winked at Ike, who only stared back blankly in response.

Skrimir laughed uproariously. “Ah yes, who knew the tiny one had it in him to be that brave?”

“Maybe a little bit of liquid courage helped with the confession,” replied Ranulf, sipping at his milkshake.

_Ah, so Soren asked his boyfriend out that night? Makes sense, it's probably one of the only times this year Soren actually went out._ It didn't really narrow down the possible candidates, though; Soren's admittedly small circle overlapped a lot with Ike's and Skrimir.

“Soren can be brave when he wants to be though,” Ike remarked. “Or rather, he’s not afraid to speak his mind when he wants.”

“Ha, don't we know it.” Ranulf snorted. 

“Still,” Ike said. “Good for him, to find love and all that.”

His friends shared a look. “Yeah…” Ranulf said slowly, “good for him.”

Skrimir furrowed his brow. “Though I haven't seen him around ever since the party. I thought he'd be coming here with you.”

Ike shook his head. “Nah, he's off at his mum's place for the weekend. Almedha can be really demanding when she wants to be.”

“Ah, that makes more sense.” Ranulf nodded his head. “Explains why I haven't seen him hanging around being all lovey-dovey. Well, as lovey-dovey as he could muster.”

\--- 

After that botched interrogation session (he was never good at being subtle or sneaky), Ike was no closer to figuring out who the new beau was. Every question he tried asking in relation to the boyfriend earned him strange looks from the pair.

It was now the Sunday night before lectures began again, and anticipating Soren's return to campus, Ike decided to investigate who the mystery boyfriend was with the help of the key witness himself.

Or at least that was the plan, until when Soren showed up at his door, he smiled up at him and gave him a hug; the action promptly caused Ike's brain to short-circuit.

Soren hugs were rare, even for Ike. He could count on one hand the amount of times it happened in his life: twice when they were kids, once when they graduated high school together, and once more in comfort, when Soren's prick of a father bit the dust.

“Hey,” Ike said, as casually as he could muster.

“Hi,” the smaller man replied, sounding almost breathless. Soren peeked around to look at the mess of textbooks and loose leaf paper on Ike's desk. “Looks like you need some assistance,” he said, nodding knowingly.

Within minutes, Soren was taking over, sorting out the piles of sheets and books by subject and drawing up a rough study plan on his legal pad. Ike helped with the cleanup, all the while thinking of the situation he was in. It was pretty bad that he didn't know who Soren was dating, but would it be even more terrible if he admitted it to his face? Or maybe Soren didn't tell him yet, during the night of the party? It was one thing to hear rumours from people who probably weren't even sober, but a whole other thing to tell someone about their own newfound relationship. Heck, Reyson took about an hour to fumble through the story of his and Tibarn's secret dating.

At any rate, Soren hadn't brought up his other half yet. Kind of unsurprising, seeing that he was a big follower of the ‘don't ask, don't tell’ policy. Even as kids, Ike had to patiently coax him to talk about any issue at all, whether it was a tummyache, the weather, or something more severe, like the other kids making fun of him when Ike wasn't looking.

Did Ike even _want_ to know who it was? The thought of finding out made his stomach churn a little. He didn't know whether it would be worse if it were someone he knew, like Skrimir, or whether it was a random face in the crowd that gatecrashed the party. 

And… why did it feel that bad to him in the first place? Ike watched as his companion sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes scanning the textbook in his lap. His expression was neutral, but something about him seemed oddly perky. And he was… kind of glowing.

Ike did like that look on him.

“Hey, uh, Soren,” he suddenly blurted out, making the other youth look up from his reading. “Are you… happy? With… you know.” He gestured vaguely, hoping Soren got the gist.

He smiled softly in response. “Yes, I am. I'm very happy.”

Well, that was that. As long as Soren was happy, Ike was satisfied.

\---

Or so he thought. But as the weeks went by, with no sighting or updates on the elusive boyfriend, Ike wanted to pry again. For his own peace of mind, of course. Nothing more. He definitely wasn't itching to draw his (safety-grade, strictly for practice only) fencing sword on the guy.

Him asking around only yielded more strange and confused looks, and even stranger responses. Yes, it was crappy of him to not know who his best friend's boyfriend is. No, it didn't warrant Lethe scoffing at him about his terrible jokes, nor Aimee bursting into hysterical tears, covering his jacket with her waterworks, saying something along the lines of “You don’t have to rub it in!”

At least the nice people in his life were pleasant about it. Oscar offered to make him food after he asked, on account of him being a little dopey when he got hungry. Ike was never one to turn down a free, Oscar-made meal, even when the sentiment behind it was a little insulting.

Out of desperation, Ike had posed the question to his mum as well when he visited his house one weekend. She and Almedha still kept in touch after years of play-dates, after all. 

“Hey, mum, do you know who Soren’s boyfriend is?”

Elena had the weirdest reaction of all though. She merely giggled and circled around the kitchen counter to hug Ike, saying stuff like “Oh, Ike, love is so wonderful!” and “But please remember to be safe and use protection.”

Ike heeded his mother's strange warning. It always paid to be properly geared up for duelling, if it actually came to that.

\---

January flew by quickly, all the while Soren continuing his strangely happy mood, even humming on occasion. And Ike continued to envy the faceless man. Envy how happy he made his best friend. Idly, he wondered when exactly these feelings for his friend surfaced. Was it since high school? Or perhaps from when he first met him, as a shy fourth grader who forgot his lunch and was pushed around for the birthmark on his forehead?

Ike was perfectly happy with bottling up his feelings though. As long as Soren was smiling, he wouldn't intervene.

In a weekly Skype call with his sister, Mist suddenly exclaimed, “Ooh, are you going to do something with Soren next Thursday?!”

Ike blinked. “Uh… we could try the new flavour of the month at the ice cream store.”

The brunette rolled her eyes. “No, silly. It's Valentine's Day!”

He frowned. Though Soren and he usually hung out on February 14th like any other day, perhaps this year he'd want to spend it with his boyfriend. “Oh, that's right. Thanks for reminding me.”

Later that day, when Soren set up his study corner on his dorm bed, Ike decided to prod once more. “Hey, Soren,” he began, heart pounding a little. “Are you… gonna be busy on the 14th?”

Soren ceased his typing and lowered the lid of his computer. He chewed at his lip thoughtfully, and after a moment, said, “Ike, I'm not that fond of commercialised holidays. They're downright stupid, and serve as a tool for companies to turn a profit.” He set the laptop next to him. “But if you want to go out for dinner that night, I guess we could.”

Okay, now Ike was very much confused. “Okay, but… but wouldn't you rather spend that day with your boyfriend?” he asked, furrowing his brows.

Soren frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you have a boyfriend, but I’ve never seen the guy or met him. On top of that, you keep spending time with me, and not him. And now you want to hang out with me on Valentine's Day instead of going out with-” Soren stared up at him, shocked and hurt. Suddenly it all clicked for him. The congratulations, the strange looks and reactions, the lingering touches, hugs, and fond looks from Soren. 

“Oh god. It's me, isn't it? It's been me the whole time.” Relief washed over him, and the knot thats been forming inside his stomach vanished. Soren, however, looked even more wrecked, posture stiff and head bowed, purposefully not looking at Ike.

“I knew you were drunk that night,” he said, hands shaking a little. “But I didn't expect that you wouldn't even remember what happened.” He continued to stare down at his lap, hands clenched into fists. “How I said I had feelings for you. And you said you returned them.” Soren laughed hollowly. “I thought you wanted to take it slow, seeing as how you hated it when other people made passes at you.

“Sorry for the confusion. I should go now.” He unfurled his legs and began to push off the bed, but Ike quickly rushed over to stop him. “Wait! Please, stay. Please.” He kept his hold on the smaller man's wrist, wracking his brain for the right words to say. Finally, he started with, “Look, I don't remember anything from that night. And I'm sorry for that. But that doesn't make your confession meaningless. Or my feelings for you less true.” He shifted himself to kneel beside the bed, in front of his best friend.

At this statement, Soren looked up, tear tracks running down his face. “R-really?” The sight made Ike's heart clench.

“Of course. Do you know how jealous I was this whole time? And of myself, to boot.” He chuckled a little. “But you looked so happy, I didn't want to say or do anything to stop that.” Soren smiled wanly at that.

Ike moved his hands to hold both of Soren's. “I'm really, really sorry. Again. Could you forgive me for being a huge dummy?”

Soren hummed thoughtfully. “Could I forgive you for seeming more sober than you are, misreading my signals for about two months… but also for being so kind, and considerate and so… _you_ for those same two months? Yes, definitely.” He smiled at him, Ike practically beaming in return. He moved to sit next to him on the bed, pulling Soren into a one-armed hug. 

The two sat there in comfortable silence, before a thought popped into Ike's head. “Dumb question, but… did we have our first kiss yet? Like on the night of the party?”

“Nope,” replied Soren. “After your drunken confession, you said you wanted to sit down for a bit, then rolled onto the floor and passed out.” He wrinkled his nose. “Honestly, that should have been my first clue.”

Ike touched his forehead against his boyfriend's. “Well. Why don't we change that?” he grinned, and brought his lips to Soren's in a chaste kiss.

\---

“Could I get two of the red ones?” Ike pointed at the wristbands to the side, adorned with dainty red roses. The clerk handed over the purchase with a smile. “Enjoy the festival!” she said, waving him off cheerfully.

He returned to the bench where his boyfriend sat, observing the fair activities with a slight scowl on his face. Honestly, the fact that it wasn't a more sour expression was a pretty good sign for his boyfriend.

“Come on, Soren,” he coaxed, gesturing at him to hold out his wrist. “Check it out. Matching wristbands.”

Soren allowed him to tie it, then brought his arm closer to inspect it. “Hm. The handiwork is not too shabby, honestly. Mist's suggestion to come here wasn't too bad.”

“So you're having fun?”

He shrugged. “At the moment, I can tolerate it.” He moved closer and grabbed the other wristband, and began tying it for Ike.

“Really? I don't know, I feel like I'd rather stay in the dorms and order in some tacos.”

Soren finished the knot he was tying and hopped to his feet. “If we order now, we can still get those breakfast burritos you like. I have the place on speed dial, we can pick up on the way back.”

Ike looked at him in wonder.

“I love you, Soren.”

“I love you too, Ike.”

**Author's Note:**

> So basically any time Ike asked who Soren's bf was, people either thought he was flexing, joking, or being an idiot.
> 
> e.g. with Gatrie:
> 
> Ike: Hey Gatrie, do you know who Soren's boyfriend is?
> 
> Gatrie: we GET IT Ike you're not single anymore smh let the rest of us lonely souls rest in peace
> 
> Ike: ?
> 
> e.g. with Nephenee:
> 
> Ike: Hey Nephenee, do you know who Soren's boyfriend is?
> 
> Neph: Oh! Is this one of your city-style jokes? Sorry, Ike, I don't really get it.
> 
> Ike: ??
> 
> e.g. with Mist:
> 
> Ike: Hey Mist, do you know who Soren's boyfriend is?
> 
> Mist:
> 
> Ike:
> 
> Mist: Mum, Ike's being weird again!
> 
> Ike: ???


End file.
